1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hand-operated crimping tool operable to fasten various sizes and types of electrical connectors or terminals to the stripped bare ends of insulated conductors, characterized by the provision of means for releasably fastening a selectively rotatable crimping drum to its housing during a crimping operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known in the patented prior art—as evidenced by the European patent No. EP 0562229 B1—to provide a selectively operable crimping tool including arresting means for maintaining a crimping drum in a given crimping position during the fastening of an electrical connected to the stripped bare end of an insulated conductor. In this reference, an arresting nose engages the crimping drum or parts connected to it. This arresting nose can be pushed out of the locking position against a biasing force for the purpose of unlocking the crimping drum, for which purpose there is provided on the front of the housing of the crimping tool an operable shifting part that is connected with the arresting nose.
The rotation of the drum after unlocking into a new user position in which one uses another die is accomplished by means of an access from the outside. For this purpose, a flap is provided in the housing that can be opened and that then facilitates free access to the crimping drum. The crimping drum can be turned accordingly by manually acting on the crimping drum while simultaneously releasing the arresting nose out of the locking position.
This known design, however, entails considerable disadvantages, both as regards production and handling. For practical functional implementation, one requires a plurality of individual parts that result in relatively high production costs. Naturally, the vulnerability of the apparatus to trouble is also increased by the large number of parts and that reduces the service time of such crimping tools.
The handling of the crimping tool also leaves much to be desired because it is especially the unlocking and turning of the crimping drum that turn out to be somewhat laborious.
Moreover, one cannot rule out the possibility that the crimping drum might be placed in an erroneous position because the arresting nose cannot at all remain in an unengaged intermediate position. In other words, the arresting nose is not sufficiently suitable for ensuring the exact positioning of the crimping drum. This can result in damage to the crimping drum when the crimping swage in this intermediate position is pressed against the crimping drum.
The object of the invention at hand, therefore, is to provide an improved crimping tool that it will have a simpler structure and that it can be made more cheaply, that its service life will be improved and that it will be easier to handle.